DISCLAIMER: The Marbury Lens, by Andrew Smith. A strange and beautiful little book about a traumatic experience and its effect. Paints a nightmarish, yet so painfully realistic picture of reality.

They were having fun.

Percy cutting through the waves like a deathly shark. Or an exceptionally skilled baby seal. Jason laughing and splashing Leo. Leo ducking under water to escape the blonde's attacks. Will crying out as a fish hit him in the face. Followed by the son of Poseidon's laughter.

"You okay?"

He blinked.

Annabeth was looking at him expectantly. He smiled and nodded. She smiled back, but

Nico could tell she was unconvinced.

"Do you want to do something?"

Nico had been playing with the warm white sand that was just at the edge of the towel he was sitting on. He had finally managed to convince his reluctant boyfriend to go back into the water. Well, Percy had managed to convince him. By throwing defenseless sea creatures at him. It had seemed rather cruel, but Percy had assured Nico that life under the ocean in Florida was boring. Being thrown at a semi-naked blond was the most fun they have had in months.

(The last was a particularly violent hurricane. Who knew fish were such adrenaline junkies?)

He had assured Will that he would be just fine sitting here with the girls, and lied that he really did not want to go inside after all.

"Don't you want to go swim?" He asked her, puzzled. Why go to the beach unless you wanted to go swim?

"Not really. Piper won't go in with me and I think there is still an octopus in Will's hair." The daughter of Athena was sitting next to him, her legs stretched out in front of her while she leaned back to look at the sky. Piper was exposing her back to the sun and resting her face on her hands. She cracked open an eye lid to look at Nico.

"I'm on my period and the constant destruction of my would-be children is very depressing. I really don't want to do anything."

Annabeth laughed while Nico blushed.

"Oh, c'mon. I think I saw some stores on the other side of the hotel. You want to go check them out?"

"Shopping? Let's go." The daughter of Aphrodite sat up suddenly and stretched. Nico noticed how many people turned to look at them. He had a feeling it wasn't because of the sudden movement.

"I thought you said you didn't want to do anything?" Nico teased.

She placed a hand on her chest, acting offended. "My dear Nico, shopping isn't just anything."

She stood and reattached her flimsy little skirt thing to her wait. Nico didn't really know what it was called, but at least it gave the idea of decency, and it covered much of her butt over her bathing suit. Annabeth in turn only slipped on her beach dress and helped Nico up. The girls looked amazing, and they were so confident, yet so oblivious. Now, oblivious wasn't something you called these girls unless you wanted to get stabbed and chucked off the roof, but how could they not notice the hungry, predatory, and admiring eyes that seemed to be glued to them only?

They picked their way through children and castles and sleeping men and tanning woman. He was thinking of how nice the sea breeze felt running through his hair, and marveling at the feeling of the warm sand beneath his feet, and thinking that perhaps the ocean wasn't such a bad place when a rather tall boy walked up to them.

Nico soon recognized him as Henry. Will's stepbrother. He was heavily muscled, wearing a pair of green swimming trunks and rather attractive, now that Nico got a good look at him. He reminded Nico a little bit of Percy, except his smile that is. It was still the ferocious sneer of a shark.

Nico was about to call out a polite greeting, until Henry's hand got lost in the billowing fabric of the backside of Annabeth's dress.

The words died in his throat and were replaced by bile. But before Nico could even take a step towards them, Annabeth had Will's brother on the floor and wide-eyed with pain, but grinning delightedly nonetheless. Nico remembered when Annabeth had done the same to her boyfriend, but then her eyes had been filled with anger and passion and love, now, those stormy-grey eyes only held disgust.

"Damn…These your girls, Nico? You must be doing something right."

Henry winked at him and Nico scowled at him. "Get lost."

Annabeth released him and they continued walking.

"Wait, what's your name blondie? What about you, braids? We should go out sometime. You can even bring your scrawny boyfriend if you want. I don't discriminate in bed."

Piper seemed to mimic Nico's scowl. "Go drown yourself!"

Nico halted in his tracks. Some part of his brain knew it was charmspeak, but he just wanted to run to that ocean and drown himself. Why wouldn't he want that crystalline water inside of him? To fill his mouth with the bitter salt of the ocean? Let himself inhale it and become one with something greater than himself? Before he even knew what was going on, he was stumbling towards ocean. What had once seemed so revolting, now held all the appeal in the world.

"NICO! No, wait!" the powerful persuasive tone of the daughter of Aphrodite once again stopped him.

What was going on? Clarity rushed into his head and he blinked. He had seemed to be so close to the ever-reaching waves, but in reality he was only a couple of steps away from the girls. Piper's target was standing in the midst of pedestrians and looking around in confusion.

"Ohmygods Nico, I am so sorry. I wasn't thinking, usually I have control over my voice but I was just so annoyed and I just spoke without thinking, Ohmygods I almost killed you, why—

"Hey. It's okay. No harm done." He quickly reassured.

She frowned. Her hand immediately flying to grab her braid pensively.

"But…I don't understand…. You should have been able to resist that, it was almost like, well…"

Nico frowned at her. He knew the girls were a bit shaken up, and so was he.

"Let's go. Shopping, right?"

His earlier worries about their attire not being appropriate for streetwear were quenched. They fit right in with the rest of Florida. Woman walking half dressed, guys without a shirt, a number of random people on motorcycles and in weird little toy cars called out greetings and random compliments.

"Y'all look great!"

"Sweet mama!"

"Welcome to Florida!"

"Nice abs, sweetheart!"

"Monkeys are real and coconuts do not have children!"

Nico blinked at the whizzing cars and waving people on the sidewalks. He really should be used to this, he used to live in New York for Zeus's sake. But he liked to think that his was a more conservative city. Polite and well-mannered people bustling around and minding their own business. Well, and the random rude jerk that calls you out and makes you angry in public. Annabeth tore him out of his unpleasant memories of his time in the city.

"Hey…how did you know that guy? Henry, was it?"

Nico fixed his eyes on Percy's girlfriend. She truly was gorgeous. She currently had her blond locks tumbling down her bare shoulders, and her beach dress seemed to be held up only by a single string that went around her neck. There was a cute little wood circle on her chest that the string wound around and the color was a light cerulean that faded into a dark blue. There was sea creatures swimming around in her dress and of course they were labeled in Latin. It was cut short to mid-thing and it showed off her muscled, yet feminine, legs.

Piper was going for a much more relaxed look. Wearing only a purple bikini for a top, she looked as stunning as Annabeth. (Perhaps more, but don't tell her that) She had a small transparent skirt that she had tied around her waist. It was a different shade of purple, and her hair was currently braided and let down.

"Neeks? Are you sure you're okay?"

He blinked at the blond. What? He suddenly turned red. Had he been staring at her while he thought? Now she surely though he was a freak.

"I…um…what? Yes. Yes, I'm okay. Henry is just a guy I met at Will's house. Do you think Will would like this…this thing?" He picked up the nearest object and held it up for inspection. They had just entered a gift shop that was bustling with tourists and they had agreed to buy things for the boys that were still messing around in the ocean.

"Um…a bag of dead baby seahorses?"

He inspected the object in his hand. It was, indeed, a bag of dead babies. They were each the size of his fingernail and were a dull yellowish color. He found that the way that the tip of their noses, (snouts?) touched the end of their little curly tails was sort of endearing.

"Well, I think they're sort of cute."

"Of course you would find dead animals cute." Piper yelled from across the store.

"Apparently so does Will. All he says is, 'Gods Nico, you're so cute!" Annabeth said gleefully.

"Did you just call me a dead animal?" They laughed. "I thought only guys insulted each other all day." He grumbled, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

After many discussions and mild arguments, they finally had the items that they would buy for the boys. (Err…the rest of the boys) Nico had quit on the idea of giving anyone dead things, but he had secretly bought, and taken the seahorses with him. They headed back towards the hotel. They considered going back to look for them, but it was getting dark and they decided that they would have enough sense to come back on their own. Or at least Will and Jason would.

Annabeth swiped their key, and they entered. Only Will Solace awaited them. He had changed into a pair of shorts and an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. His hair was still damp and calm, in contrast to Nico's win-blown hair. He turned from his task and grinned.

"Finally! Where were you? Oh. Shopping." He smiled at the bags in their hands. "We were going to make cupcakes at Percy's insistence." Dusting his hands of the flour for emphasis.

"Where are they?" Annabeth asked as Nico went in for a kiss. His boyfriends grin widened.

"Oh, they're taking a shower."

Piper plopped down on the couch, remote in hand. "But there is only two bathrooms."

"Uh huh. Jason and Percy are sharing."

Annabeth chocked. "What?"

Nico blinked and stared at Will, sure he'd heard wrong. But no, he was smirking at them. Piper stared, speechless. Will laughed quietly.

"There's a shower and a bathtub in there, so they're obviously not sharing-sharing. They're not that gay." He winked at Nico, who frowned at him. "Oh, c'mon. It's not like Jason and Percy are going to suddenly decide they don't want a girlfriend anymore and hook up with one another." Will cocked his head, throwing his arm around Nico's shoulder and looking thoughtful.

"That'd be hot, tho."

Piper made a gagging noise and Annabeth threw a cushion at him while Nico laughed and shoved him off the couch. As soon as he fell, the restroom doors open simultaneously and the oven bell rang.

"What's hot?" Percy asked immediately.

"Me." Replied Leo, striking a weird pose.

"Why's Will on the floor?" Jason said, shooting the other blond a puzzled look.

"Nico's getting it on, that's why." Percy grinned knowingly.

"Getting what on?" Nico said aloud.

"The cupcakes are ready!" Will announced and sprang towards the kitchen. He shot Percy a dirty look. Percy looked at him, eyebrows raised. Just as Nico was beginning to wonder what the hell was going on, Percy conceded. He blew out an exasperated breath and turned his eyes heavenward. The son of Poseidon kneeled in front of him and took his hands in his.

"Nico…do you know what 'sex' is?"

"JACKSON!" Will tackled him.

They laughed and Nico blushed. Were they laughing at him? Making fun?

His throat tightened.

"I do." They didn't hear him. "I do know."

They stopped laughing and Will's smile faded. He stared at him.

"Oh… Nico, we weren't—

But Nico stood, his face burning.

"I don't care."

"Neeks…" Percy began.

"It's fine, whatever."

He quickly walked towards the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Why did he have to ruin everything? And just because he didn't know what Percy was talking about didn't mean he was stupid, or innocent, or whatever. Would Will like him less? It didn't matter. Will wouldn't care. And it wasn't like Nico wanted to…well, to have…that. Or at least not right now, and not with— Ugh.

He ran his fingers through his hair and jumped when someone knocked on the door.

"Nico?" It was Will. "You okay?"

"Yes."

Silence.

"Well…c'mon. It's getting late, come to bed."

"Uh huh."

He fixed his stare on a rubber boot that hung on the wall. It was part of a variety of random objects that were arranged on a fishing net as a decoration. He stared as Will's footsteps receded into the distance, and until he saw the lights go out in the hallway. Slowly he opened the door and headed towards the room he shared with Will. Nico closed the door and then proceeded to stare at Will's sleeping form. He sighed…quietly.

He slipped in next to him, and Will instantly turned to face him.

Nico's mouth grew dry.

"Nico…baby, I'm sorry. Percy was just trying to make sure you were safe, and we were talking about it, I didn't want to make you feel bad."

"It's fine." Nico insisted.

"It's not. Look, I don't care if you don't want to…take the next step—

"But…we can't." Nico said slowly. He could barely make out the outline of his face, the twinkle in his eyes. "You're…I mean, we're…guys."

He felt his face reddening as Will stared at him, his face unreadable. But Will suddenly brought him close, kissing him firmly despite his half-hearted protests. Nico melted into the kiss, comfortable in this rhythm of lips. But there was something else in this kiss, something more…predatory.

His boyfriend suddenly climbed over him, straddling Nico's hips with his legs. He let out a shocked cry as his weight settled on him, but Will was quick to react, his lips moving down on his neck, and Nico gasped. That…That felt…

"Will! W-Wait…" He pushed against him with a trembling hand. Will complied, settling down next to him, his lips still on his neck.

"Doesn't matter, Nico." He felt, rather than saw, him smile. "We can still make love. If we couldn't…then I guess a lot less guys would be gay." He chuckled.

"I…" All Nico knew about sex was what his sister had told him, (which wasn't a whole lot) and what the guys had said around camp, and even then they talked in a weird sort of lingo, like, "getting it on," and "poppin' the cherry". The truth was that he didn't know a whole lot. He had thought about it, but every time he did, his face would heat up and he would distract himself with something else.

He stared at Will. He looked sleepy, smiling tenderly, and Nico tentatively smiled back. Will would never hurt him.

"I love you, baby."

"I love you, too."

My ankle hurt.

My kidnapper was standing in front of me. The stun gun at his side. Pain ran through my body drenched in sweat. My hands were trembling uncontrollably and I wished for the millionth time that I had something more to wear other than my underwear.

If only I had stayed at the party.

If only I hadn't gotten drunk.

If only I hadn't let the so called doctor take me home.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do, Jack."

Jack? Jack. I'm Jack.

He pushed the leg of my underwear high up, swabbing my skin with alcohol, and then I felt the sting as he stabbed the needle into the muscle.

"Don't worry," he said. "It's just going to make you calm down. That's all. Just calm down."

He rubbed his finger over the spot where he'd injected me. Then he licked my leg, slowly, and I felt like I would throw up when I felt his teeth and tongue against my skin. But there was nothing in me.

"Try to calm down Jack. I need you to roll onto your stomach now. Do that." He pushed insistently against my shoulder.

"No. Leave me alone."

"Jack?" He stroked the stun gun across my throat.

I couldn't take that again. I began to turn over on the bed, and he pushed me down. I tried to pretend this wasn't happening, that I was outside, somewhere else. Then his other hand slid down my back, and pulled my underwear away. When he got them down over my feet so I could feel the soft weight of them hanging loose on the connected chain of zip ties, he pushed my knees apart. Something cold and slick—like jelly—squeezing out onto my thighs. His hand slid up between my legs and rubbed. I tried crawling away from his hand but I was stuck there. I didn't care anymore. It was my fault.

I felt myself drifting away…

Nico woke,

And threw up.

Well, I don't think I did the book justice. But trust me, it's brilliant. Tell me what you thought! And I there's anything you want to see happen, I'll try to weasel it in. And again, I suck. I'm terrible, I'm not even going to ask for forgiveness. XD